The Three Finest Newsies in all of New York
by magic-blood
Summary: "Goils? Goils! I told you boys once, I told you twice, no goils in the lodging house!" Time travel fic, rated T for language.
1. Ch1: Ain't it a Fine Life?

**The Three Finest Newsies in all of New York**

Mush is high on Pixy Stix, Denton is no where to be found, Sarah's got herself little competition with Jack and just _how _did you manage to knock Medda off the stage again? Do you really want to know?

**A/N-** I know, I know, can the internet really contain another self-insert where the usual teenage fan girl travels back in time and just happens to become a major character in her favorite movie/book and loved by all?11!

Well this isn't that. Promise.

I started this a while back and just recently thought of posting it here, also I really tried to make the time traveling part as unique as possible, I don't have the time (or patience) to go through all the fanfics here so I swear I didn't copy anyone intentionally.

T for our language, I try to keep it real (we're sooo hood).

Newsies (c) Disney

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**In this chapter: **_"Goils? Goils! I told you boys once, I told you twice, no goils aloud in the lodging house!"_

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"Shannon _hates _movies, she was scared of the monkeys in the Wizard of Oz until the age of thirteen, she didn't even like Labyrinth! That's _unnatural_."

"Megan - unless you want her up all night we have to keep her occupied someway, you know how she gets when her parents let her have her sugar."

I had to be the voice of reason, like normal, I was the eldest of the group after all. I figured one out of every three friends was like that.

It was June 17th and like every second week of June I found myself at my neighbor (and best friend's) house for her annual Summer Fling. Yes, seeing her family and incredibly hot, cop cousin, has become something of old hat over the numerous years of our close friendship. The sleepover that followed was never a question, it was simply assumed and always accomplished with a fold out couch and movie.

The movie in question was somewhat a random choice, Shannon was a girl of simple tastes, give her a musical with a few hot guys and she'll be set until impersonating them Halloween night. Thus brings me to Newsies.

Musical?

Check.

Hot guys?

Oo-oh yes.

Netflix had recommended it for me a while back… well that and High School Musical: Senior Year.

I decided to take a great leap of faith with this musical.

Personally, those High School Musical movies conjure up images of a younger me, at my seventh grade chorus concert, singing We're All in this Together, dancing like Sharpay Evans in front of a quarter of my town.

But, thankfully, this Newsies movie had _nothing _on HMS.

Naturally I showed Megan, my younger, blonder, sister and she too thought it to be possibly the best thing she ever witnessed.

After her, there was only one more person to show my new obsession to; Shannon.

"I swear Roser, if she stays up past one a.m., I'm out," said my sister calling me by my nickname as we walked up to Shannon's door. By her snippy tone I could tell High School finals had gotten to her. I wished I'd just stayed home.

Finally, a familiar lanky figure answered the door with a sort of smile that would scare a normal person away. Thankfully, there were none of those in sight.

"Hey _guuuys_," she said with a giggle. Just letting us in was _far _too normal for this girl.

"We bring entertainment!" I declared raising the DVD.

With that she opened her door widely revealing she had already changed into her neon orange XXL tee that hung loosely on her beanpole frame and hid her short Snoopy shorts.

For a second she looked to us curiously before laughing, "What are you wearing?"

Me and Megan looked to each other, we had decided to surprise her (or scare her) by wearing the Newsies outfits we'd put together with the help of the local thrift store. I thought we looked pretty authentic with the shirts, hats and suspenders and could possible pass for the real thing, except for the fact that we wearing shorts. It was, after all, the beginning of summer and Shannon's house lacked air conditioning.

"Our Newsies outfits!" declared Megan proudly.

"You look ridiculous," she said letting us in.

"So you don't wanna wear the extra shirt we brought for you?" I asked disappointed.

She inspected the extra flannel shirt I held out to her before muttering "what the hell" and throwing it on over her clothes.

"You have any Junior Juice boxes left over?" Megan asked already making her self at home in the kitchen.

"I already told you, you drank the last one!"

We slipped out of our shoes as Shannon presented us with the a bag of Pixy Stix she retrieved from under her shirt, "Got something better anyways, my parents were outside cleaning up when I took them."

"Bad. Ass," I joked as she hid them beneath her shirt saving them for later.

Megan made her way to the fridge mumbling "you're such a creep," along the way.

Knowing Shannon's parents were stickles on eating, the Stix were probably the only junk food we'd see the rest of the night. Health freaks can ruin any good Saturday night.

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We took a seat on he couch as Shannon fished through the arm chairs cushions for the remote.

"What did you say this was about?" she asked as Megan sipped her iced tea she was able to salvage from the fridge.

"About boys… and newspapers, mostly boys selling newspapers," I said making myself comfortable on the sofa.

"I thought you said it was a Batman movie!" Shannon said self celebrating after uncovering the clicker.

"I said Christian Bale is in it, he's young though."

"Sexual," she whispered to herself turning on her large television.

"How long is it again? We have to do a lypsinking montage still," Megan reminded us.

I frowned, "Sorry, I didn't know you made a schedule."

"It's the same thing we did last year!"

_BOOM!_

Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through the room followed by a low growl of thunder that shook the house. It sounded as if, in a split second, a storm had formed over the house.

"Shit!" exclaimed Shannon as her dog was suddenly pulled out of it's sleep, it sprinted across the room and began barking at the window.

Megan looked out the window to the dark sky, "_Okaay_, random thunder."

"Are your parents still outside?" I asked to Shannon as she tried to restrain her black and white Boxer dog.

She shrugged, "They're probably with my uncle getting drunk in the Barn."

I was half surprised her parents trusted us alone, though I was seventeen and the other two were sixteen, they knew what we were capable of once we were alone. Especially after last year with the ping pong balls and ceiling fan. That was certainly a mess.

Before she could finish her sentence, another loud clap sounded and echoed sounding more like a tree was splitting in half.

I shot up from my seat, "Jaysus, I think that hit your house!"

Just after I had uttered those words the lights began to flicker.

"Nooo!" Megan cried, "Damn weather! Curse electrons and other stuff that makes lightening."

In one last flash the lights were out and we were in complete darkness.

Leave it to Shannon to begin to hum the Phantom of the Opera overture.

This unnerved Megan, "Why?" she shouted across the room.

I pictured Shannon shrugging, "It worked in the movie."

"Let's see if we can frighten away the ghost with a little… illumination, gentlemen!" I quoted not being able to resist.

Needless to say that didn't work either.

Then, as we sat in the silence we caught on to something all at the same time, an irritating snapping noise. It was echoing from far away and then, all of sudden, in the room.

"Did it just get darker in here?" asked Megan, her words almost inaudible because of the whistling of the wind.

I walked over blindly to where I heard her voice, stubbing my toe on the corner of something hard.

"OW! Shan, since when is there a pole in the middle of your living room?" I asked.

"Hey, shuddup over dere!" came a boy's voice that made me jump until I realized who it must have been.

"Hey Shannon, is your uncle in a bad mood or something?" I asked wondering where he picked up the random New Yawken accent from.

"What are you talking about?" she asked her voice sounding further away than it should have.

"I just heard your uncle."

"I didn't hear him come in, Roser."

I frowned and decided to sit down not wanting to hurt myself again.

Then, a single stream of light ran down the center of the room… but it was wrong. I know this sounded impossible but it wasn't the same room I was in a moment ago. It looked like I was in the center of one of those camp ground cabin rooms where everyone was forced to share a bunk bed.

I moved back on the ground hitting into somebody's leg. Before I had a chance to look up at their face, their hands grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me to my feet.

I battered the hands away, "Hey, let go! You're stretching out my shirt!"

That was when I got a glance at their face, it was not anyone I've ever met, he wore an eye patch and an angry frown.

I closed my eyes and screamed, the room erupted with movement.

'What's da mattah?"

"What's goin on?"

"Where's da fire? Dere bettah be a fire!"

The room was suddenly lit and I was met with a young man's face, a very confused face.

"It's a goil!" he exclaimed as though he was disgusted releasing his grasp on my shirt. I fell to the ground as I was unable to find my footing, or feet for that matter.

"And two more over heah!" exclaimed a younger boy pointing to Shannon and Megan as they looked to me hoping for some sort of explanation.

But there wasn't one, only a room full of random, confused boys.

"Will you get up? When you get up, it's time to get-" an elderly man entered the room but was stopped by the odd scene. Most of the boys had gotten out of their beds by now and where just starring at us, I joined Megan and Shannon's side. Something about this scene seemed eerily familiar, worse than any déjà vu I've had.

"What the _fuck_, where are we?" I asked to them only getting a blank stare in response.

The elderly man looked to us, his eyes widened as a hand met his forehead.

"Goils? Goils! I told you boys once, I told you twice, no goils aloud in the lodging house!"

The man walked up to us, I stepped between the other two as he looked us over.

"And such odd ones at that…" he mumbled looking at Shannon. "You're not wearing any pants!" he shouted starring to us.

The boys talked among themselves, I heard a tall one mutter behind me he'd seen better lookin' dames walkin' the streets at night. I would have gave him an answer but found it impossible to talk, nothing was making sense, like being stuck in the middle of some else's dream.

"Hey!" shouted a boy in particular, a shorter one with dark hair, "Who do yous belong to, which guy brought ya heah?" he asked, I looked to him as he met my own gaze. My jaw must have hit the floor, I took another look around with wide eyes as Megan grabbed my arm.

"No one," Shannon finally said.

The eldest man laughed, "Well then how in the woild did you get heah?"

Me and Megan each other, there had to be some explanation for this, I racked my brain for anything, any excuse or explanation. I couldn't even wrap my mind around the ideas in my mind. This was ridiculous, and painfully clichéd. We had found ourselves in the beginning of the Newsies movie.

"It was an accident," I blurted out, slurring my words due to my nerves.

I felt every eye on me, in all, there had to be over twenty people in the room.

"An accident?" repeated the short boy. I nodded, praying he'd believe the excuse though it was probably the shittiest one I'd ever came up with.

"So… yous weren't brawt heah by any boys?" asked the old man, all three of us nodded our heads. The old man nodded to himself, still visibly confused, "Then… what yous is saying is you walked in heah, on accident?"

We nodded once more, "Completely by accident," Shannon added.

"And we can leave if you want," I said ready to sprint to the door.

"Is that very gentleman-like, Kloppman?" asked a man who had just rolled out of bed.

His feet lazily met the floor and he shook his dirty, brown hair. He looked up to us, Shannon stumbled back and I had to catch her, still not taking my eyes off of the boy.

"Would you honestly send three goils to the street without a second thought?"

That was it, this _had _to be a dream. Feet away from me stood _him_, Jack Kelly.


	2. Ch2: Dead or Dreamin'

Thank you all for such nice reviews! I never expected this would get a response let alone some of the kindest feedback I've ever received! So, without further adieu, here is chapter 2, please review :D

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**In this chapter: **"_Hey since you goils don't got no place ta go would you be int'rested in a business deal?"_

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"Well what would be the gentlemanlike thing to do Mistah Rockefellah?" asked Kloppman sarcastically.

Jack smirked stretching as he staggered closer to us, "Well foist we could, uh, give 'em some pants ta where."

Shannon frowned as his gaze lingered on her bare legs for a moment, "We just wanna leave, we'll be fine!" she said in attempt to divert his gaze.

"Well where da ya gotta go doll face?" asked a boy from the crowd.

"Back ta da whore house?" mumbled another.

"Or da asylum," wondered another yet.

I suppose the shorts we had been wearing did not qualify as decent nineteenth centaury clothing, possibly not even as underwear.

"Aright, Aright!" announced old man Kloppman, "Everybody out! Carry da Bannah! Sell da papers, OUT!"

We watched as the boys took their clothes quickly and passed us, I looked to Megan who had been very quiet the whole time, uncharacteristic of her though given the predicaments, I couldn't blame her.

"It's Jack!" she whispered barely being able to contain herself, "Racetrack! Mush! Mush? Mush is here, I'm in the same room as Mush! Can you believe it, we're in the movie!"

I slapped her across the face, for once having a good reason to, "What are you talking about? This isn't good! This is bad. Very bad!"

"Ow," she replayed feeling the side of her face.

Shannon butted her head in between us, "Which one of you are in on this?"

"In on what?" I asked.

Shannon looked to her with narrowed eyes, "Spill everything you know. Now!"

Megan smiled back to her, "Don't you guys get it? It's 1899, the streets of New York are echoing with the voices of newsies, peddling the papers-"

"Shut up, stop rambling! There's no way in heaven or hell…" I half whispered half shouted.

"I'm not rambling, something must have happened, something magical to send us hear."

I frowned, "Golly, thanks for that super special assessment, I figured I just rode a unicorn here."

"Stop it Roser, Megan, are you saying that _this _is Newsies, I mean that crappy movie you were going to make me watch?" Shannon asked.

"It's just like the movie, Shannon. This is exactly how it starts… and it's not crappy!" I said as Megan nodded along.

She began to nod as well, "I think I know what happened, it was right after the power went out, it was so weird, everything changed after I jammed the DVD into the player…"

"What do you mean you jammed it in, it's not mine you know!" I pointed out, she rolled her eyes.

"Well maybe that's it then, maybe the DVD player gods are punishing me!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

"They. Had. Better." I threatened through my teeth.

"Shhh!" hushed Megan this time. "Either we can argue here all day or we can be apart of history, be apart of the Newsies strike!"

I quieted her as a figure walked through the door. His crutch and ever present smile immediately giving away his identity.

"Here we are goils, I found them in the old closet down the hall," the tall, skinny, boy hobble over to us with a heap of cloth stuffed under his left arm. "They're almost all poifectly new!" He unveiled to us three pairs of worn in pants, "I know they ain't suitable for ladies but dey should hold 'til yous get home."

Megan stepped forward and took the clothes from him, "Thank you very much, Crutchy, they'll hold just fine."

His face lit up, "Say, have wes met before? I figure I'dov 'membered a goil like you."

Megan shook her head, "Naw, I just heard your name before."

"Really? Gosh! You make me feel like old Pulitzer 'imself!"

Me and Shannon exchanged glances as Megan giggled.

"What's your name then, Miss?"

"I'm Megan, the one with the dark hair is Rose and the tall one is Shannon, we're from… Bronx," she lied.

"Da Bronx?" he asked with a smile, Megan nodded as I covered my face with my hand.

"Well Pleasuh ta meet ya goils, if yous need anythin' just call for me, I'sl be outside," he was about to leave when he stopped and looked back to us. "Say, just _why _is it none of you are wearing any pants?"

There was a long silence between the three of us before Megan began to laugh, "You know how it is, sometimes you just forget things… like pants!"

"Yeah, we were in a real rush to leave," I added trying to make Megan's excuse sound even a bit plausible.

He nodded slowly, wordlessly assuming we were crazy before hobbling out of sight. I held my breath until he left and shut the door.

"What the hell? Sometimes you just forget things?" I shouted to Megan as I leaned against the door.

"Well someone had to say _something_!"

"You couldn't think of something normal?"

"I didn't hear you coming up with anything smart by the way!" she pointed out.

"Well at least _I_ wasn't the one flirting," I retorted.

"What? I was n-"

"Flirt! You are a flirt who flirts with cripples!"

This silenced her for a moment, she shrugged, "Well why not? I don't see anything wrong with it."

"It's too _weird_, everything about this is too weird. One of us just has to be dreaming," I said collapsing on a bed.

Shannon pointed a accusing finger at us, "Well whoever it is better wake up fast."

I looked to Megan and she glanced to me, we all knew it wasn't a dream, if it was, then it was the damnedest I'd ever come across. Shannon frowned to our silence realizing how our situation couldn't possibly be a dream.

"Well shit then." She sighed and also found herself on an unmade bed.

"Could be worse," I began, "Could have been High School Musical."

Megan laughed without humor, "I would have found a hand gun by now."

I shook my head, "So. We're here. Now what?"

"NO!" cried Shannon as she sprang to her feet, "We are not here. It's physically, mathematically, physiologically… grammatically, impossible!"

"Calm down Shannon," I said as she paced back and forth in front of where I sat, "You're not making any sense."

"Obviously we can't tell anybody where we're really from, they'll think we're insane!" she said throwing out ideas as she paced.

"Right," injected Megan, "We'll just have to go along with things for a while before we figure out exactly how to get back."

"See that's all Shannon, now put on your pants," I said having to pull her to the ground.

I looked to the garments that Crutchy had retrieved for us. They were big, dirty and anything but feminine. I wondered just how many women would dare to wear but an unraveling skirt during this time, I figured zero, if any at all.

Getting to her feet and pulling her own trousers on, Shannon made the discovery that they stopped around her ankles and had to be held up at the waist.

"Now who is it that looks ridiculous?" I laughed as she mumbled something and cuffed the pants at the bottom before removing the waist tie from her shorts to use as a makeshift belt.

Thankfully, mine and Megan's pants fit well enough without such crafty hemming.

After I had finished I looked to Megan as she walked around the room poking through various draws and unmade beds.

"What are you doing?" I finally asked.

She shrugged rummaging through a draw, "Lookin."

"For what?" Shannon questioned.

"Hello? How often is it you get to look through _their _stuff? Look!" she exclaimed holding up a cigar. "It's Racetrack's!"

"Don't touch that!" I exclaimed hitting it out of her hand, "Now come on, let's… leave I guess."

"Wait!" said Shannon just before we were about to exit the room, "What exactly happens after this in the movie?"

Her question stopped the both of us in our tracks, the same thought springing into both our minds. We knew everything that was about to happen. Every line we laughed at, every moment we had cheered for; it was all about to take place.

I opened my mouth in a gaping smile, not being able to contain my excitement I grabbed Megan by the shoulders, "I've gotta be either dead or dreaming!"

"Finally you're getting it!" she said with a smile that suddenly turned into a serious expression, "Wait, what if we _are _dead?"

"Who the hell cares, we're in Newsies!" I exclaimed before we both began to jump up and down again.

"Wait," began Shannon ceasing our celebration, "I care!"

"Don't worry Shan," I said walking to her side placing an arm around her shoulders, "there'll be plennnnty more of Jack Kelly."

She crossed her arms, "I don't know what you mean."

"You almost fell over when he looked at us," I recalled from earlier.

A smile slowly crept across her face, "I'm in too… I guess, but not for Jack, for you two."

Megan jumped up and down, "Carrying the banner, carrying the banner!" she cried.

"Now just hold on," I said as a sudden thought came to mind, "we gotta be careful here, one wrong move and it could alter the course of history… or this movie at least, still we could really mess stuff up and who knows how that will effect things!"

"So we stay in the shadows and observe, there's nothing wrong with that, it'll be like watching the movie in 3D only better!"

"No. That's not good enough. We need to stay in the shadows of the shadows, not interfere with a single person, not _flirt _with a single person."

Megan didn't seem to listen.

"So you didn't tell me yet, what happens after this?" Shannon questioned again. I sighed aggravated.

"I'll explain it all later, now let's go see the boys before we miss everything," I said opening the door. Just as I was about to step out, a tall figure stood in the way. I looked to his face, his piecing brown eyes starred down to me. I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing Jack Kelly in person.

"Uh, sorry, Kloppman sent me heah to walk ya goils home" he said ringing a cowboy hat in his hands.

"Walk us… home?" I repeated dazed. Thankfully Shannon stepped in.

"We don't live around here, you don't need to waste your morning selling papers or whatever it is you do."

"No please, allow me, I don't mind one bit miss," his kind words turned Shannon into a giggling mess rendering her useless.

Jack laughed, "I'll take dat as a yes?"

I nudged Shannon for her to answer him, she glanced back at me mouthing a desperate 'please' making her blue gray eyes look as sad as possible. I shook my head with my own silent 'no, no, no, no!'

"Uh… ladies?" he asked getting Shannon to look back to him, her composure suddenly reappearing.

"Yes, please escort us home… Mr. Kelly."

"Call me Jack, what may I call you?"

"Shannon," she said quickly offering him her hand.

Megan rolled her eyes to me as he took Shannon's hand, "And I'm the one you call a flirt?"

"Actually, Jack," I said cutting between the two, "She means no, you can't escort us home because, well we aren't from anywhere around here."

"Really, where do yous live den?"

We looked to each other wondering which one would spill the beans.

"What, don't tell me yous don't know how to get back?" he asked.

"That's it!" Megan exclaimed, "You're exactly right Jack, we just lack any sort of direction-"

"Or navigation skills," I added.

"We get lost just looking at a map," said Shannon not wanting to be ignored.

Jack raised an eyebrow and glanced between the three of us each presenting him a nervous grin.

"So… you don't know how to get home?"

"Nope!" we simultaneously agreed.

"Aright," he mumbled looking away from us seeming to work out some plan in his head, "Would your parents come lookin' for yous?"

We exchanged looks again, I decided I would answer in hopes for a normal response.

"All of our parents are dead."

Yeah, that was a no go on the normal.

Megan and Shannon looked to me confused, Jack creased his brow, "Sorry ta heah that, Miss. Yous are orphans then?"

We all nodded, "That's right. Orphans! All of us," I stuttered.

"Yeah!" Megan agreed, "Orphans. It's the hard knock life for us, aye Jack?"

I could only stare to Megan mortified as she made jazz hands in his face.

Jack (still utterly confused) forced himself to nod, "Right… well there are only so many orphanages in New Yawk, Is'l find which on yous are from."

"No," said Shannon, "we…" there was a brief pause as she searched fro an excuse, "we ran away," she finally stated sticking her nose in the air.

"Yes!" I repeated just as confident, "And we are certainly not going back there!"

He could only stare to us once more, he seemed to have much trouble finding his next words, "Uh… I'm sorry but I didn't catch you twos names yet."

Ah, the old changing of the subject, it works for me.

"They call me Roser," I said as he smiled and shook my hand.

"Megan, I'm her sister," she said taking his hand next.

"Pleasuh to meet you, it's Jack Kelly but I guess you've already hoid of me."

I made a mental note to not call these people by their first names.

"Right, everyone's heard of the best Manhattan Newsie!" I said nudging his arm.

He smirked to me, "Is that so?"

"Sure."

"What's it like being a Newsie?" Shannon asked inching closer to Jack's side. He looked to her frowning for a moment before the smile flickered back to his face.

"It's aright, most of da times… Hey since you goils don't got no place ta go would you be int'rested in a business deal?"

Me and Megan cocked our heads to the side, "You mean like… partners?" I asked.

"Shoar! I mean, goils willin' ta sell papes are hard ta find," he looked to Shannon, "but with a puss like yours, sellin' would be real easy."

She raised an eyebrow at Jack as me and Megan looked to eachother horrified.

"Les!" she whispered.

"David!" I said back.


	3. Ch3: Dealin' with da Best

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**In this chapter: **_"Sorry," he said bluntly, "I'm not going back there, I'm going to do what my father told me to, I'm going to work at the Connor factory." _

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Shannon, oblivious, continued smiling up to Jack, "I would love to be in a partnership with you."

Megan jumped on Shannon then, covering her mouth, "Mwhat ma mell!" she mumbled as Megan kept her hand over her mouth and dragged her out the door past Jack.

"Sorry there Jack," I said placing a hand on his shoulder, "we just remembered we really should be leaving. Bye!"

I ran past him as he followed us, baffled by our actions.

"I told you this was a bad idea!" I shouted to Megan who had begun to drag Shannon down the staircase.

"Shut up!" she yelled back to me as we walked by a baffled Kloppman.

We made our way outside and, without knowing exactly where we were going, continued to run away from Jack and drag Shannon along with us.

"Where are we going, you're going to get us all lost!" she cried as Megan tugged on her wrist. Megan continued forward as I began to catch onto where she was leading us. After snaking by a cluster of barrels, turning the corner to see a small group of singing nuns, then running past a couple of gossiping ladies, we came upon the sight of that familiar tarnished statue sitting just before the gates of the circulation desk where a crowd of boys had gathered.

I had to admit I was halfway shocked, "How did you do that?"

Megan shrugged, "I memorized the dance, remember?"

"Yeah?"

"It's the same thing, hey look!" she exclaimed as we walked closer to the gates.

"Dear me, what is that unpleasant aroma?" I heard a voice ask from the crowd of boys.

Shannon took a deep breathe after Megan finally released her, "This is what you dragged me away from Jack for? I thought you wanted to be Newsers."

"It's Newsies," Megan corrected, "and you were taking another character's scene!"

"Shhh!" I said turning to them then back to the scene before me. Something was missing, or rather, someone was missing.

"In the back, you lousy little shrimp!" my heart sank at the line, I looked back to Megan.

"Where's Jack?"

She shook her head, "I thought he was behind us."

"It's not good to do dat, not healthy," spoke up Racetrack as I watched holding my breath.

As Racetrack went to help up the kid Oscar Delancey had pushed to ground he was stopped by the elder of the Delancey brother's, Morris.

Morris pushed Racetrack back to the gate by a hand on his chest, "It ain't healthy to pick a fight with a man bigger than yous eithah."

"Oh my god, he's gonnna kill him!" I cried.

"What would Jack do?" asked Shannon.

"I don't kn-" I stopped myself mid-sentence realizing I knew exactly 'what Jack would do', I just really didn't want to. "Oh, where the hell is Jack?"

"Unpleasant aroma, eh?" asked the Delancey brother as he pinned Racetrack to the gate raising his fist.

"Stop!" I called stepping in the middle of the crowd, thanks to a push from Megan.

The pair looked to me, Morris rolled his eyes with a laugh, "Won't you look at dat, Racey here's got a goil to protect 'im!"

I stepped closer the Morris, "Hey, that's an insult!"

He looked to me dumbly, "Oh really? Well I wasn't exactly aimin' for a compliment!"

I looked to Megan who signaled to his head with her hands, _"Do it already!" _she urged in a low whisper.

I looked back to Morris who had gotten too close for comfort, I, suddenly very nervous blurted out; "So's this!" before snatching the hat off his head and running as fast I could.

"What are you doing?" cried Megan as I ran past her, "You're not supposed to take his hat!"

"Come on, we've got to help her," said Shannon running after me.

As I ran down the street I heard the Delancey brothers pushing through strait behind me.

I glanced to my side to see Shannon, "Here!" I shouted throwing the hat to her.

"I don't want it!" she exclaimed having no choice but to catch it, and after glancing to the two Delanceys that looked menacingly her way, she continued to run.

I laughed watching her weave around cheering Newsies, not paying attention to where I was heading, I ran into a man head on.

"Sorry, I wasn't wa-" I looked to his face to see a very amused Jack Kelly looking down to me. "Jack… now you show up!"

"Jack!" Shannon called as she ran past us throwing the hat to him, he laughed catching it.

I looked on standing behind Jack as Morris and Oscar stopped running after Shannon and turned their sights to Jack, both seeming to know where the ever so common scene was going.

"How many times do I got to tell you boys? No playing around with goils on da job," with that, he tossed Morris's hat onto a nearby roof.

"Why you…" Morris threatened stepping closer as I stepped away. There, standing before the gates, they began to fight just as I had seen it multiple times before, Jack beating them without lifting a hand as the pair clumsily threw punches missing their target and hitting each other.

"Wow," said Shannon breathlessly watching Jack fight at my side.

"You get him Cowboy!" hollered Megan from my other.

We watched as the boys finally retreated, too defeated to continue. Jack, celebrating (and showing off a bit) climbed up the gate looking down to his adoring friends.

His adoring friends… his adoring friends? What were _we _still doing here?

"That was fun, well, back to the shadows!" I said pulling Megan and Shannon away from the others.

"But, do we really have to?" asked Shannon pulling away from my grip.

Me and Megan looked to her without remorse, "YES!" we exclaimed in unison.

"Heya, goils!" Jack cried looking down to us from the gate before jumping down.

"Oh no, not good," Megan stated the obvious.

"Come on," I said, "just walk away really fast and don't look back!"

Suddenly an arm found its way around my shoulder, damn that boy was fast.

"At least consider it goils, I'll teach yous da ropes!"

"Hey, you're gettin the chance of a lifetime, ladies! You learn from Jack you learn from the best!" said Crutchy as he passed by us.

"No!" I cried horrified as I recognized the line, I looked to Jack noticing his confused expression, "I mean, we can't be Newsies, we have to leave!"

I pushed Jack's arms off of me and was about to walk away when-

"I want to be a Newsie!" said Shannon stepping in front of Jack.

"Well all right den, at least I'se got one taker."

"That's right, I'm all about hacking the papers!" she said with a giggle.

"No," I said having to step to Jack's side, "She is not going to be a Newsie! It's _hawking _papes by the way Shannon."

Shannon glanced to me sourly before beaming her smile back to Jack, "Don't listen to her, she's jealous."

"Jealous?" I gasped. "I am not- listen Jack, this cannot happen!"

"And why not? Da lady says she wants ta hawk, let 'er hawk!" he retorted.

"She can't because we said so!" said Megan trying to pull Shannon away.

"Stop grabbing me, I'm getting sick of being dragged around. Why don't you just find one of those leashes they use on kids at the mall?"

I rolled my eyes as the two went at it, that's when a boy my attention.

"I knew he gave me nineteen papers," he mumbled as he walked be me, "Come one Les, let's get to the factory before it's too late."

I held my breath as I saw the pair walk away.

"Well maybe I will get a leash! God! I'll probably two so Roser can hold onto you too!"

Shannon pushed Megan to the side and smirked to Jack who had been caught in the middle of the bickering, "We don't do this often, I swear!" she lied.

He nodded forcing a weak smile.

While she once again talked up Jack, I pulled Megan to my side.

"Look!" I cried in a whisper, "It's David and Les."

She watched on to the boys as they walked away, "Hey it is, where the hell are they going?"

I said nothing as she came to a sudden realization.

"We screwed something up already, haven't we?"

"You think?" I looked back to see Shannon still mingling with Jack, "Come on, let's go after them," I said before running after them.

"What? No! What about staying in the shadows?" she said catching up to my pace.

"Screw staying in the shadows, it's too late now. Hey, you guys!"

Dave looked around then back to us running after him, he stopped as we met him on the sidewalk, bent over in front of him trying to catch our breathe, need I mention we are out of shape?

"Can I… help you boys?"

I looked up to him and noticed his shocked response, "Er… ladies, I mean."

"We saw that Weasel gave you nineteen papes!" gasped Megan.

"Yeah, let us get you one more, we know this really nice guy back there who would love to help you out!"

"Sorry," he said bluntly, "I'm not going back there, I'm going to do what my father told me to, I'm going to work at the Connor factory."

I jumped forward "But no, you can't!"

"Yeah!" agreed Megan, "Selling papes is fun!"

"Factory work is boring anyways."

"And dangerous!" she added.

He looked to us, is mouth hanging open as Les starred on next to him. In one frustrated moment he threw the papers he was carrying to our feet.

"My father was right; selling is no way to earn decent money. It's full of loonies."

He ordered Les to stay close by his side before leaving, the boy continued to look at us as they went on their way out of our sight.

"Well he's a douchebag," Megan grumbled turning back to where we'd run form.

"What are we going to do Meg… we lost a main character."

She turned back to me, "We have to go after him, let's go tell Shannon."

~:0:~

"What do you mean she ain't heah?" I asked to Racetrack us he leaned against a fence smoking his cigar while simultaneously hawking random headlines.

"I mean she ain't heah, she left."

I put a hand on my hip as Megan sighed heavily, "This is the last thing we need!"

"Wait a second cigar boy," I began holding back an urge to call him by his nickname, "Where'd she go?"

"Baby born with two heads, gotta be from Brooklyn, heh? She left with Jack to the fight, he said he'll teach 'er how to hawk dere. Ellis Island fire, come and get 'em while yous can!" he said between shouts to men that passed.

"He's gonna teach her how to hawk!" I exclaimed.

"I heard him, Rose."

"This is ridiculous, why didn't she tell us?"

"You know, you goils shouldn't be fightin' ovah Kelly, why don't yous try for a real man?" he asked blowing smoke out the side of his mouth.

I laughed dryly, "We are not fighting over Jack… and no thank you."

"Why not? I hoid what Jack was sayin, you goils are gonna be Newsies! I betchya we'll get real close, real buddy buddy if yous know what I mean."

"Well what you heard is wrong, we aren't going to be Newsies. In fact, we probably won't even talk to anyone of you after today."

"And why's dat?" he asked leaving me fumbling for an answer.

"Because… we'll be leaving."

"Ta where?" he questioned again.

"I don't know, but it will be far away from all of you."

"You wouldn't happen to know the way to the Connor factory would you?" Megan interrupted changing the subject.

He looked to her baffled, "Da Connor fact'ry?"

She nodded as I crossed my arms, "We need the directions, you see a friend of ours-"

"Ho-hold on sweethawt, yous don't want nutin' ta do with that place. Care ta catch up on da news sir, penny a pape!" he said diverting his attention to another buyer.

Megan looked to me defeated for a moment, I decided to take matters into my own hands, "Okay, look here Higgins, that is your name isn't it?"

"Call me whatevah you'd like sugah," he said while making selling another paper.

"Damnit all, will you just stop that and listen to me?" I yelled re-attracting his attention, "We have a friend at that factory, we need to get him out before it's too late and we don't have this sort of time to chit chat so please, please help us."

He, again, released a cloud of smoke from the side of his mouth, "What's yer name goil?"

"It's… Rose, and this is my sister Megan and we'd be very appreciative if you could help us get to that factory, just the directions would be fine."

He glanced between our pleading eyes with his studious brown ones.

"Yous are new ta da city?" we both nodded and he sighed, "Aright den, I'll lead da way."

"What?" asked Megan, "You don't have to come with us."

"Yeah I do, dat fact'ry is no good news, yous'll need a fellah like me in a place like dat."

"Thank you so much, now which way is it?" I asked about to walk away before he stopped me placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Now hold it, I do have one little condition."

"Anything!" I said instantly agreeing.

"A date out with me."

"… but that!"

"I'll go!" said Megan stepping in front of me.

"Aright, I'll settle for da blonde," he said just as pleased.

I rolled my eyes and pushed Megan aside, "Uh, no, she's way too young and tall for you."

"Well no goil, no deal," he said with a shrug.

I smirked to him, to this whole situation, "Are you always this accretive, Higgins?"

"When da moment calls, yeah," he answered with a shrug.

"Just say yes already," Megan pleaded in a whisper.

I looked to him with a frown knowing that valuable time was passing, that if I didn't say something soon the failure of the Newsies strike would be placed squarely and solely on my shoulders. All he could do was smirk the smuggest grin I'd ever seen, that bastard.

I stuck out my hand to him, "Well you got yourself a deal now, Higgins."

* * *

This chapter took a year to write... Anyway Please please review, I would really appreciate any sort feedback :D

~Rose


	4. Ch4: Improvin' da Truth

~:0:~

**In this chapter: **_I looked to her, "Come one Shannon, Jack's the leading man, every leading man has a girl." _

_Her mouth parted as she starred to us, "He has a girlfriend?" _

~:0:~

He removed the cigar from his mouth and shook my hand, "Call me Race."

"Race." I repeated forcing a smile. Personally, I had nothing against the biggest gamble of the Newsies group, it was only that as soon as the words 'date out with me' escaped his lips a different boy's face came to mind. I know this was no time to be an obsessive fan girl. For the time being, these were real people, not just characters I could manipulate with imagination.

"Roser," started Megan in a whisper grabbing my arm, "do you really think this will work, what are we even going to say to him?"

"I don't know, he's an important character - I mean person, we need him!"

"Obviously, but do you think he'll even listen to us?"

"Well we just won't give him a choice."

"You mean _you _won't!"

"Uhh, ladies?" Racetrack interrupted, "Should we be on our way?"

I nodded looking away from Megan, I had no clue why she was being so stubborn. I wasn't exactly prepared to walk into this factory myself for a young man who, until a few hours ago, I didn't think even existed.

"Dis beddah not interfere wit da races…" he muttered throwing the butt of a cigar to the ground.

"It shouldn't take long if all goes as planned, which it hopefully _will_," I said glancing to Megan as we began to walk down the bustling street.

~:0:~

Finally, after walking about a mile we came upon a towering red, brick building.

"Dis is it, Connors's," noted Racetrack before opening the door and looking back to me and Megan. "Now, be careful goils, if dere's any trouble isl'e be out here."

"And why not in there, with us?" I asked.

He laughed without humor, "You kiddin' me? I ain't goin' in dere."

"What's so bad about this place anyway?" Megan asked.

"Dis place right here is Hell for any poison witout a job. People come here as a last option and some don't make it back out, understand now?"

I looked up to the dark building, thoughts of hundreds of women trapped in an inferno sullenly crossed my mind. With hundreds of buildings just like this around the city, I wondered what sort of secrets were kept just behind the weathered brick.

"Well then," began Megan, "that is the exact reason we need to get David and Les out of there."

We bit the bullet and entered the building as Racetrack bid us good luck. We dashed up a long narrow stair case until meeting another door, loud humming noises sounded from the other side accompanied by the yells of a man.

"You sure this is where he said he'd be?" Megan asked.

"Certain, now come on," we opened the door and were met with a disturbing sight, rows of tables occupied by people on sewing machines. The ages of the people varied, there were some middle aged and some elderly but, by far, they were mostly children as young as Les.

"Dave!" I cried after spotting his face in the back of the room. My shout attracted the attention of an overweight, burly looking man who sat at a large desk in the corner of the room.

"You goils here fa work?" he asked getting up and staggering over to me and Megan.

"No sir, we're just here to see a friend," I said as he took me by the arm in a rough grasp.

"David, the Newsies need you!" Megan cried to the back of the room as the man began to drag me to an empty sewing machine.

"I said I'm not here to work for you!" I tried pushing the man away but he didn't budge nor loosen his grip.

"Den yous are trespassin' in me fact'ry! Is dat what you are trying to say goil?" he questioned closely to my face, his foul breathe wafting to my nose.

"No! I'll leave, just let me go," I pleaded.

Megan had took notice to my situation and tired to push the man away, he turned to her with a grimacing look and raising a threatening hand against her.

"If yous won't work fa me I'll send da bulls on ya!" he scoffed as Megan cowered in his shadow.

"Hey," said David suddenly stepping in front of Megan. "They said they were sorry, can't you just let them leave?" he asked as I looked to him, his blue eyes darting between mine and the man's.

"Get back ta your seat Jacobs," he threatened darkly.

"But-"

"Now! You don't want ta end up like your old man, do ya?"

David backed away form the man with Megan, "What are you two doing here, why do you keep following me, how do you even know me?" he asked her in a whisper once he had her to the door.

"The Newsies need you David, don't stay here, he'll hurt you… or Les," she said looking to the small boy struggling with threading his needle.

David seemed to pale at the thought, he looked back to Megan with a stern glare in his eyes, "Leave. The both of you."

The burly man grabbed me by the wrist and pushed me to the door, I hit into Megan.

"What about you David? Come with us," I said hoping he would change his mind. There was no use though, he shook his head once before finding his seat in front of the sewing machine proving to be more stubborn than I could have imagined.

~:0:~

We slowly, in defeat, found our way back to the circulation desk or wherever else Racetrack decided to lead us. Megan walked closely beside me, her hands thrust in her pockets, head slumped forward. I rubbed a hand across my face.

"Don't worry, we'll get him to join someway," I said mainly trying to reassure myself.

"Who was dat guy anyway?" asked Racetrack, "How da two fine goils get involved wit a a boy who works dere?"

"He's just a friend, a boy we know," said Megan, "and besides, there's no way he's going to listen to us, I already told you he wouldn't, Roser. He'd only listen to his father… or Jack."

"Jack? Do them twos know each other?" asked Racetrack.

"No," I said quickly covering for Megan's big mouth, "Not _that _Jack, Jack… Bieber."

Megan nearly choked with laughter at the alias I had came up with.

"Ain't nevah hoid of him."

As Racetrack continued on, I looked to Megan with a sudden idea ringing in my head, "That's it, we just got to get Jack to meet him!" I whispered.

"How are we going to get them in the same place?"

"Tonight, when they're having dinner. Somehow between Medda's show and the walk home after seeing that strike…"

"That will never work!"

"We have to try something!"

Megan sighed thinking for a moment, "Well… where's Jack Kelly supposed to be right now?"

Racetrack stopped in front of us at the street corner, "Gee, I don't know - he was at that fight with that other goil, but right this moment? Who could say."

I began to think myself, let's see now… there was David meeting Jack then the boxing match where Jack makes up that headline… Les drank some beer then-

"WATCH OUT!"

We looked around the corner as two people came pushing through the crowd.

"Shannon?" asked Megan as she passed in front of us shortly followed by Jack.

"What are you two doing?" asked Racetrack.

"Runin'!" Jack replied.

After they ran across the street a man all in black came, far less gracefully, charging through the crowd shouting rudely as he went.

As he came closer Racetrack stuck his foot out in front of his path causing him to fall flat on his face for everyone to see, naturally, Megan, the surrounding crowd, and myself roared in laughter.

The only man not laughing at the scene looked up to us with a prominent scowl, we immediately dropped our smiles and ran down the street in the same direction as Jack and Shannon. Racetrack lead the way shouting back to us to run faster.

"I can't keep up with them!" I cried to Megan, "I failed gym remember?"

Megan didn't answer me, she was too out of breathe, the sports gene not being found in either one of our genetic codes.

I looked forward to Shannon running besides Jack laughing as they both ran with ease, Megan pouted to her, "It's not fair, she didn't even see the movie!"

I rolled my eyes and ran past Megan grabbing her arm, "Come on, we're being chased remember!"

Dashing into a close by building we followed the others as quickly as we could while our adversary could only be a few steps behind.

The stars were what made the difference in the end, while we had caught our second breath just in time, the older man fell behind giving us just enough time to collect on the roof. Pausing for a moment, we watched dumbfounded as Jack seemed to jump off the side of the roof. He soon repapered though, just as we had predicted, and signaled for us to do the same.

All at once we jumped behind the wall, I collapsed next to Shannon with Racetrack on my other side, we held our breathe as the angry man shouted after us.

"Sullivan? Wait 'till I get you back to the refuge!"

Jack crawled by us and we took the cue to follow him. We escaped to back into the building we had just ran out of. Finally out of the man's sight, we sighed a collective breathe of relief. After the brief moment was over and I had whispered my hallelujah, I turned to Shannon.

"How the _hell _could you do that? You just ran off without telling me or Megan, what were you thinking?"

"You guys left me first, I was all alone then Jack here kindly took me out hacking."

"Hawking!" I yelled as Jack began to laugh, I looked to him aggravated, "This is not funny, Kelly."

He continued to laugh though until Racetrack confronted him, "Hey Jack, why did dat Bull call you Sullivan back dere, why was he aftah you?"

Jack paused for thought for half a second, Me and Megan pretended not to take notice to their conversation.

"Well, uh… you know how dose bulls get us all confused, it's just a name he gives any a us."

"What did he mean by refuge?" asked Shannon suspicious of his quick excuse.

"It's jail for kids, look I'm telling' da truth… I can't help it if yous don't believe me."

"Oh no, I believe you," she said quickly half smirking to him. He smiled to her, and honestly I was about to gag over the whole situation until a woman's voice interrupted them.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked from the top of the stair case that occupied the dark back room.

We looked up to see a lady dressed all in different variations of purple standing at top of the staircase. I don't think I've ever understood the allure Medda had to the Newsies, it wasn't until that moment when I heard Racetrack gasp saw Jack's expression that I got it. She had a unique thing about her, one of those kinds of people that commanded your attention as soon as you looked her way.

Jack left Shannon's side and met Medda on the staircase. Medda continued to reprehend him until he opened his mouth and she realized who he was.

"Who is that?" whispered Shannon to me.

"Medda," I answered, "boys love her."

"How do I look goils?" asked Racetrack to us as he stared to Medda atop the staircase.

"Fine," I reassured him before he pushed by us.

"Racetrack is that you down there?" questioned Medda looking to us. "And three girls? Jack I thought you called me your one and only?" she said with a mock pout.

He smiled, "Don't worry Medda, dose are just me friends, Rose, Megan and Shannon."

"Nice to meet you girls," she said walking down to us with Jack at her side.

"Goils, this is the greatest star of the Vaudeville stage today! Miss Medda Larkson, the Swedish Meddalarke."

She bowed to us with a wave of her purple feathered fan, "Velcome ladies!" she said kindly in her pretend Swedish accent.

Racetrack took the moment to place a warm kiss on her hand.

"Lovely to see you as well, Mr. Higgins," she said with a giggle.

He smiled to her, "You make me sound like one 'o dose fancy business men when yous call me dat, Medda."

She battered thick eyelashes, "Like they could compare."

"We were just stopping by," began Jack changing the subject, "I was wonderin if we could stay just until our little problem outside goes away."

"Sure, stay as long as you want."

The boys were plain giddy with excitement as we made our way to backstage, all I wanted was a moment alone to fill Shannon in on our plan to reunite David with the movie.

As they watched the stage intently the three of us found a quiet corner.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you before Shannon but me and Megan have been through a lot this past hour."

"Like what?"

"Like tracking down David and almost getting killed by a three hundred pound gorilla!" exclaimed Megan.

"Wait, who's David?"

I rolled my eyes, we really should have went over this before, "David is a main character in this thing, he's out because you were too busy flirting when you should have been lurking in the shadows."

"Do you mean I took his place?"

"No, no one can take his place. We need him, his brother, and sister," Megan attempted to clarify.

She put a hand on her hip, "Why do we need his brother?"

"He's cute - every Disney movie needs _some _cute," I said.

"And his sister?" she asked.

I stalled, Megan didn't answer right away either.

"What?" she asked again her blissful expression suddenly deflating.

I looked to her, "Come one Shannon, Jack's the leading man, every leading man has a girl."

Her mouth parted as she starred to us, "He has a girlfriend?"

"Not yet, not until we get things straitened out here."

"Well you can't, me and him are really hitting it off, okay?"

I frowned, "There is no time for your little fantasies right now," I told her as we walked to where the boys were standing after Medda had entered the stage.

"It's not a fantasy," she protested under her breathe.

On our way over, Megan must have caught a rope around her arm somehow, I watched her tugging at it from the corner of my eye. As soon as I turned to see what she was doing, it was all too late. The rope undid itself from around it's hook on the wall just before the sound of a woman's scream echoed through the theater accompanied by a loud thud and gasp from the audience.


End file.
